Making progress

Meditations on the Path of Knowledge

We live in a culture of instant gratification. We want results, things, and information NOW. Part of what I love about Burning Man is taking the internet away from myself. Its good for me to disconnect. I would do it more in my life, but with my work it can be hard to be a Luddite completely for a week. Even in this culture where advances happen at a breakneck speed it can be good to remember that some goals are only met with slow progress.

I was reminded of this at work today. I had a bit of a break through (tiny really, didn’t recognize it until I was sharing this weeks progress with my boss). The work on this project has been slow, and every day I have felt like I got nowhere. But slowly over the last 3 months I have taken this project from idea to almost result (I should get a result tomorrow). Every step seems insignificant, and I can’t point to any “jump” forward. Yet here I am. It was constant slow progress that got me where I am. Sometimes when you walk a path you do it slowly while looking at your feet. This isn’t a bad thing, but it means sometimes you forget that you are making forward progress.

This sort of work takes time, and generally careful thought. When you get there though you have a very strong foundation you have built up. It works in research and I think it works in spirituality as well. We want to reach our goals almost as soon as we decide on them (and I am guilty of this as well). However, real growth, and real progress must be built on a solid foundation. Sometimes it can be easy to forget that to get where you are it took many baby steps and many days and months and years.

What is that saying? Nothing in life worth having is easy? Embrace the hard work, long hours and baby steps. It is totally worth it! Now I am going to celebrate my progress by drinking wine and watching cartoon!

P.S. Don’t forget about the November Giveaway!